Joe Biden Using Office To Burnish His Foreign Policy Cred Ahead Of Possible 2016 Run Or Something

Is this an Important Story Of The Day? Is it Vital Information? Trending? Nope. What it is is an article that made me laugh first thing in the morning due to the absurdity, which did not go over well since I have a chest cold. That said, there is relevance to this Fox News article

As Vice President Biden ponders a 2016 presidential run, he continues to use the benefits of his office to make high-profile trips to Ukraine and other diplomatic hotspots — burnishing the foreign policy credentials he would need to win the Democratic nomination over Hillary Clinton.

Biden already has solid credentials, having served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as either chairman or ranking member for about 10 years, from roughly 1997 to 2007.

However, should Biden decide to run, he would face a big challenge in convincing Americans that he would be a better choice than Clinton in responding to an international crisis. (snip to the end)

Biden’s diplomatic reach goes well beyond Ukraine and includes relationships with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Biden said he met more than four decades ago, and China’s President Xi Jinping, whom he first met in 2011 during an overseas trip.

The article even mentions Hillary’s 3am political ad, used, I think we can say, to no effect against Obama during the 2008 primaries, as Obama won.

Still, foreign policy is rarely the major issue that decides a presidential election, with voters also focused on so-called “pocketbook issues” like jobs and the economy.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the 2016 election cycle will be one where foreign policy is not that important. That said, let’s not forget that Biden was brought on the Obama ticket in order to give the Obama foreign policy cred. Much like it can be ask of Hillary Clinton “can you name any foreign policy successes?”, the same can be asked of Biden, obviously since they both work for the same boss. Think Progress ran an article back in 2011 naming Obama’s foreign policy successes, which one would think would reflect on Biden and Hillary. In those, we get

Killing Bin Laden (obviously). Hillary said she backed the strike, and that Biden did not (Obama dithered, but, this is not an article about Obama, so I’ll stop there)

Mobilized some sort of international coalition to protect Libyan civilians. How’s that worked out? Libya is a mess

Ordered the complete withdrawal of forces from Iraq. Yeah, he followed the Bush plan, and managed to mess it up

Isolated and weakened Iran. Oh, really?

Supported Democratic transition in Egypt. Yeah, that was a mess, too, and Egypt is looking to Russia for support and arms now

Killed Anwar Al Awlaki. I give him this one as a win, hands down. In all seriousness, good job. I’ve said again and again that I fully approve of Obama/Biden using drones and special forces to whack jihadis. And, let’s not forget, in honesty, Biden wanted to use more drones and special forces in Afghanistan, rather than a “surge”.

Strengthened US-Israel relationship. Seriously? No, Seriously? Our relationship was pretty damned good under Bush 43, and has gone down under Obama/Biden/Clinton/Kerry.

That’s all they can mention. Though, to be fair, it was just 2011. Flash forward to 2014, and White House Dossier offers up some pithy thoughts

Let’s take a short trip around the world to see if we can find any foreign policy successes.

Mexico: The country continues to deteriorate into a narcostate, and what’s more Mexicans are none too happy with us for fueling the problem with intentionally sent weapons.

South America: Leftism has been in the march throughout the continent during Obama’s presidency. No reversals to speak of. Venezuela remains in ruins, but people there may finally be taking matters into their own hands.

Cuba: Cuba still no libre.

Canada: Obama has actually created tensions in what is normally our most harmonious relationship by bowing to political influence and taking years to decide on the Keystone pipeline.

Europe: Obama does not seems to have developed friendships with any European leaders — the type of relationships that are needed for allies to operate seamlessly. Rather, there seems to be a kind of frostiness and some mistrust.

It does not end there. It continues on and on and on. The part about Obama not having developed friendships with European leaders is spot on. Really, any world leaders. He has no political friendships internationally. Say what you want about Bush, he did a good job of charming the leaders of friendly nations, regardless of any political leanings.

Much like with Hillary Clinton, where was Biden in all of this? He was brought in due to his supposed vast foreign policy experience. Are relationships with typical allies are a mess. They made a hash of our relationship with adversaries, such as Russia. Remember, they tried the silly “reset” schtick, while ticking off Poland by dumping the missile shield, and look where we are now. Our relationship with our #1 ally, Great Britain, is, at best, tepid. What has Biden done? Many countries which used to look to the United States are now turning towards China and Russia. What role has Biden played? If he was your financial adviser, your offensive coordinator, your assistant coach, he’d be fired. A few wins here and there do not cover for the massive losses.